Raymond Chandler’s 1940s detective novel is adapted to Los Angeles of the 1970s, replete with nude hippies, marijuana brownies, freeways, all-night supermarkets, mobsters in leisure suits, and movie people in modernist houses on the Malibu beach. Gould portrays the hard-boiled Phillip Marlowe character as a bumbling, bewildered figure who nonetheless imparts a sweetly moral dimension. The film is especially notable for its soundtrack (as is often the case in Altman’s work), which plays as important a role as the vibrant visuals, wisecracking dialogue, and unique performances in relaying clues to the mystery’s surprising solution.